Jurist Given Protection Over Escapee’s Threats

State police have been assigned to guard California Supreme Court Justice Malcolm Lucas because of reports that a convicted killer threatened the jurist before escaping from federal prison in Illinois, a state official said Tuesday.

Federal officials said, however, that there was no indication that the escapee was either traveling west or still intending to make good his threat.

“We did receive word that a person named Hugh T. Colomb said he would retaliate against Justice Lucas for a sentence Justice Lucas handed down when he was a federal judge,” said Lynne Holton, a spokeswoman for the Judicial Council of California.

Fled With Second Killer

Colomb, 31, escaped May 14 from the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, said Jerry Bullock of the U.S. Marshal’s Service in Washington. He fled with Bernard Welch, 45, another convicted killer. Both men, Bullock said, are considered extremely dangerous.

“It was just in the course of investigating the escape that we discovered the threats,” Bullock said. He declined to identify the judge or discuss other reports naming Lucas. “We immediately passed that (information) along to the California State Police.”

Bullock added, “We don’t have any information that they are heading toward California to carry out a threat on a judge.”

State police officials declined to discuss the matter, but Holton said a team of officers from the state agency’s Dignitary Protection Command is guarding Lucas and his family “around the clock.” She said protection began as soon as the state police learned of Colomb’s escape.

Governor’s Former Law Partner

Lucas, 58, at one time Gov. George Deukmejian’s law partner, was the governor’s first appointee to the Supreme Court. Since his appointment in March, 1984, he has bolstered his reputation for supporting stiff sentences.

He was described as being concerned about Colomb’s escape but declined to comment publicly.

Before joining the state court, Lucas was a U.S. District Court judge. In 1977, he sentenced Colomb to the maximum 25-year prison term for the armed robbery of a federally insured bank.

Colomb killed another inmate while serving at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania and attacked a guard after being transferred to the Marion Correctional Facility in Ohio, Bullock said. Those crimes added 23 years to his sentence.